The Magic Band - Live at Glastonbury 2004 a memory from DRUMBO

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JOHN FRENCH

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GLASTONBURY 2004

Since Glastonbury was last weekend, I thought I'd add a shot of The Magic Band, June 25th, 2004.  The lineup was L to R -- Gary Lucas (Guitar), Rockette Morton (Bass), Michael Traylor (drums), Drumbo ( vocals, harmonica, drums), and Denny Walley.  Dan Silver was our agent at that time.  This tour should have been called "The Zig Zag Wanderer Tour" because it was quite poorly planned in terms of where we were from day to day.  I think a lot of profits went up in diesel fuel.  I didn't really realise this until after I came home and bought a map of the U.K.   This day, however, I was so excited about being able to play at Glastonbury.  I hadn't played a festival like this before ( besides Knebworth once with the Captain) and so was unfamiliar with the setup and striking of stage.  Everything was set up behind the barrier at the back of the stage on wheeled platforms.  In a half hour, the crew would strike the stage, wheel out the new band using a chart, plug in all the mics, get a decent level, and that was it.  We were booked on The World Music Stage -- probably because they couldn't find a category for us.  The band before was a Latin group with horns, backup singers, and an impressive lineup of percussion.  I was a little concerned... "How do we follow THAT?" I asked Gary Lucas.  He said, "Don't worry, they all wander away during the break and a completely new audience will emerge for us."  And it happened just like he said.  I walked out to check my harmonica mic and vocal mic, and heard someone shout "Fast n' Bulbous" which re-assured me that someone actually knew who we were and that maybe a few fans would be in the audience.  By the end of the set, the whole space  was standing room only way out past the roped-off area.  The one thing people complained about was that they couldn't hear the vocals.  Unfortunately, as you can see from the shot, they didn't include small filler speakers that usually are required to cover the first few rows of people.  Our sound man said the vocals were almost overpowering in the back where the sound booth was.  I only remember that the time seem to whiz by.  I did go back and play drums on a couple of pieces, and, because I didn't get to check the drums before starting, wound up shattering one of the mics that was placed on the left floor tom, which is by the Hi Hat.  I don't know why sound men think that you can place a mic almost over the centre of the drum, and it'll be "fine."  Anyway, the sound man in the back said it "sounded alike a shotgun blast in the front..."  Suddenly, I heard a voice through my in-ears uttering profanities.  It was the stage sound man (who was just next to Gary) cussing me out.  At the end of the piece, I hand-signalled him that his talkback mic was on.  I couldn't help but laugh at his face when he discovered that every horrible thing he had said about me had been heard.  Afterward, I walked out to catch some of the atmosphere and some older hippy chick said, "I was here for the very first Festival, and was in charge of the gate."  I just looked it up, and there are two different "firsts" -- on the first is 1914, but she didn't look ninety, so I'm going to go with 1970 -- the day after Hendrix died.  About 1500 people were there.  A far cry from today, or even the day to which I am referring.  We were lucky to get an absolutely beautiful day.  As we left, I saw what appeared to be a field with thousands of tents.  "The Pasture is Tents!"  I said.  Nobody got it.  In my mind, this day still stands out as a great experience, a beautiful day, and a successful one at that.  The only thing sad was that they confiscated a bunch of beer we had in the van.  I'm not a beer drinker, but Rockette was sad.  No glass bottles at Glastonbury.  A lot of people walking around barefoot, and broken glass on the ground is not a good combination.  Newcastle Brown, almost a full case, gone.  Every year, I send Mark Boston flowers in sympathy.  What I want to know is who gets all that beer at the end of the Festivities?  Have a great day!

John French

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Meanwhile sometime later . . . . . . .still with Denny (imitating a theremin!) and Rockette Morton in 2013 so  with  Craig Bunch and Eric Klerks too

Electricity!